“Less Parking, More City”

Adding parking spaces might seem like the answer to traffic problems, but it ends up making them much worse.

That’s the message in this video produced by the Mexico branch of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, which Paul Barter shared at his blog, Reinventing Parking.

Mexico City has been adding parking at a feverish pace — faster than housing, offices, or retail — thanks in part to poorly conceived minimum parking requirements. The city is expected to add 175,000 parking spaces in the next three years. For half the cost of building all that parking, the city could create busways capable of transporting 1.5 million people to their destinations daily.

Barter reports that ITDP has been working hard to reform parking mandates in Mexico, and that the country and many of its localities are now revising their policies.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Urban Review STL reports that downtown St. Louis is getting one of those new “neighborhood Walmarts” near its subsidized ballpark. Pedestrian Observations ranks metro systems around the world by ridership per kilometer. And City Observatory shares some major findings about delays faced by American commuters.

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Around the Network today: The Pricetag for Parking in China: Right now, parking policies in China actually seem to be more market-oriented than in the United States. Residential parking spaces in Beijing fetch as much as $125,000, which Paul Barter at Network blog Reinventing Parking says is a sign that parking is currently priced at […]

Around the Network today: The Pricetag for Parking in China: Right now, parking policies in China actually seem to be more market-oriented than in the United States. Residential parking spaces in Beijing are as high as $125,000, which Paul Barter at Network blog Reinventing Parking says is a sign that parking is currently priced at […]

Don’t plan for parking spaces the way you plan for these. (Photo: Admit One via Flickr) Here’s the analogy of the day from the Streetsblog Network: Parking spaces are like toilets — at least for conventional planners. That line comes from Reinventing Urban Transport, and while it’s good for a laugh, it yields several important […]

The largest city in North America has done away with one of the biggest hidden subsidies for driving: minimum parking requirements. The new regulations will make housing more affordable, transit more convenient, and streets less congested.

The famed “War on Cars” — who among us hasn’t heard this tired hyperbole tossed around with wild abandon? Want to install a bike lane? Gasp! “War on cars!” Speeding cameras in school zones? “War on cars!!” Raise tolls to cover the huge cost of roads? “WAR ON CARS!!!” You know how it goes. Paul […]

The famed “War on Cars” — who among us hasn’t heard this tired hyperbole tossed around with wild abandon? Want to install a bike lane? Gasp! “War on cars!” Speeding cameras in school zones? “War on cars!!” Raise tolls to cover the huge cost of roads? “WAR ON CARS!!!” You know how it goes. Paul […]